News

If Corporations Get a Tax Cut, We Want a Raise

December 7, 2017

CWA wants to make sure that the nation's biggest employers actually give working families the average $4,000 wage increases the Trump administration claims will result from cutting the corporate tax rate.

CWA has reached out to all its major employers like AT&T, Verizon, General Electric, American Airlines, NBC Universal, and others, to call on them to commit to that raise in writing by Dec. 1.

As of December 7, no employers have responded, and there have been many reports that CEOs plan to use the tax cuts to buy back stock and reward investors – not to give workers a raise and stop offshoring good jobs.

CWA will keep pressing the issue to make sure that employers are held accountable for their promises if the Republican tax bill becomes law.

Sign the petition to tell CEOS you want them to guarantee the wage increase in writing.

Lots of media were on hand as CWAers and allies protested the Republican tax plan outside the district offices of Senators Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). The bill would add at least $1 trillion to the deficit, give permanent tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy, and encourage corporations to send more jobs overseas. Meanwhile, working families with the bill are stuck with the bill.

CWAers and allies in Missouri, left, and Texas protest the Republican tax plan.

CWA President Chris Shelton authored an op-ed that appeared in newspapers across the country on how the Republican tax scam will hurt working people and increase the deficit by more than $1 trillion:

Republicans are on the brink of passing a massive tax overhaul, and it’s looking like the biggest con of the Trump era so far. And that’s saying a lot.

The legislation being jammed through by the House and Senate Republicans is a tax giveaway to corporations and the richest 1 percent, paid for by working and middle-income families.

Across the board, working people will be hurt by this plan, whether by the new incentives to corporations to send U.S. jobs overseas, the loss of the medical expense deduction, new taxes imposed on education benefits, the inability to deduct interest on student loans, the loss of state and local tax deductions, or the forced budget cuts to Medicare, transportation, health care and other critical programs.

Of course, many economists are skeptical and predict that corporations will use the money from the tax cuts to buy back stock and give CEO's and executives big raises, not raise working people's wages or add jobs.

Economists are equally skeptical about the wild claims of economic growth. Analysis by the bipartisan Tax Policy Center found that anemic growth in the U.S. GDP would be more than offset by a massive loss of revenue, increasing the deficit by $1.27 trillion over 10 years.

In case you're wondering where Republicans in Congress will direct their attention in 2018, Speaker Paul Ryan revealed this week that they will be focusing on cutting Medicare and Social Security next year to help pay for the GOP tax bill.

The Washington Post reports:

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Wednesday that congressional Republicans will aim next year to reduce spending on both federal health care and anti-poverty programs, citing the need to reduce America's deficit.

"Frankly, it's the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt, so we spend more time on the health care entitlements – because that's really where the problem lies, fiscally speaking."

Ryan said that he believes he has begun convincing President Donald Trump in their private conversations about the need to rein in Medicare, the federal health program that primarily insures the elderly. As a candidate, Trump vowed not to cut spending on Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.